xix (government of the (I(oman Empire 259 was an official of equestrian rank. The most important de- partment managed the finances and property of the emperor, his rationed, or accounts; and the head of this department was styled a rationibus ; a subdivision of this department dealt with the private property (patrimonium) of the ruler. Other important departments were these : the ab epistulis and a libellis, which dealt with letters and petitions ; the judicial department (a cognitionibus) ; the department of records (a memoria) ; and the department for collecting evidence concerning matters of dispute (a studiis). All imperial business was recorded in a special journal (commentarii) kept by an official styled a commentariis. There is no doubt that, as the principate developed, the administrative activity of the ruler grew more and more comprehensive. But the government of the empire in the first and second centuries was far from being a bureaucracy in the modern sense of the word. The ordinary subject, except the inhabitants of the capital, came much less into contact with the officials of the central government than he does in any modern state except America. The imperial officials or, to put it more generally, the direct instruments of the state in general, including the governors of imperial or senatorial provinces, were a mere superstructure added to self-governing communities throughout the empire. The elective magistrates of these communities were the links that connected the man in the street with the state. They and the municipal councils in Italy and the provinces had entire control over the town and its affairs; they were also judges of first instance, and gave orders to the police of the town and district; they acted as government agents in settling and collecting the direct taxes; and they enforced other obligations on the inhabitants, such as making and main- taining roads, and conveying government officers or stores or the government post. They discharged these duties, not only for the town but also for the district, often very large, which formed the territory belonging to the town. In ordinary cases the agents of the central government merely supervised the municipal authorities and heard complaints brought against them by the local inhabitants. It is true that the right of interference in municipal affairs, possessed by proconsuls and propraetors, and the imperial legates and procurators, was limited by no law but by tradition s 2